


Jean Takamaki

by vivvav



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: F/F, Jean Takamaki, The AFR Universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-05-01 09:53:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14517924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vivvav/pseuds/vivvav
Summary: Ann and Shiho's son is a little different from the other children.





	Jean Takamaki

“Just a little further, Ann-San! Push!”

The earplugs had definitely been a good idea on Shiho’s part. Ann’s path to becoming an actress had included a lot of vocal training, which meant that her lung capacity was greater than average. Shiho was pretty sure that her partner was setting a new noise record for the maternity ward, and all she could do as she rubbed Ann’s shoulders was marvel at how the doctor was able to focus on the delivery and not how his ears were likely to start bleeding any second.

“I can see the top of the head!” The doctor looked up at Ann. It was hard to tell thanks to the mask he was wearing, but the lines around his eyes made it clear he was smiling. “He has blonde hair, just like his mother!”

“Come on, Ann! You’re almost there!” Shiho picked up the pace of the shoulder massage. “You’re doing so well! I’m so proud of you! Just a little more!”

If Ann’s response had any actual words to them, they were completely drowned out by the sheer volume, her vocalizations sounding like some distorted movie monster voice. This titanic roar heralded the arrival of the newborn, as it finally popped out of Ann and into the doctor’s waiting hands.

“Congratulations!” The doctor looked at the babe in his arms. “It’s a healthy… Uh…”

As Ann returned to her senses, the first thing she noticed was the concerned look Shiho was giving the doctor. Ann looked over to see an uncertain look in the doctor’s eyes one does not want to see in the person delivering their child.

“What is it?” Ann’s voice was hoarse. “Is there something wrong with my baby?”

“Oh, no!” The doctor shook his head fervently. “Ann-San, you’ve given birth to a perfectly healthy baby boy!”

“Then what’s that look for?”

“You see, Ann-San, this is just unexpected, is all. Your child, well…” The doctor rose from their bent-over position, bringing the baby into view. “You can see for yourself.”

Ann was too tired to keep her head up. Shiho slowly approached the doctor, unsure of what to expect. She finally got close and took a good look at the newborn babe, still attached to his mother by the umbilical cord. It wasn’t hard to see just what about the child could throw off a medical professional. Shiho found the words passing through her lips automatically.

“He’s black!”

* * *

A few phone calls and an investigation led to the revelation that when the time came for Ann’s artificial insemination, there was a mix-up in the sperm samples. Instead of the nice-sounding young banker who was too busy to start a family like he’d always wanted, Ann had received the sperm sample of a Nigerian immigrant who kept losing his job and turned to alternative revenue streams. Thankfully, the baby was perfectly healthy, and although he wasn’t quite what Ann and Shiho were expecting, they didn’t love him any less for it. And so it came to be that Jean Takamaki, the half-black, quarter-white, quarter-Japanese boy with a French name and two moms, was born. And while some of the other children at preschool and many adults treated him like an other for it, the people close to Jean didn’t see him differently from any other child.

“Eeeeehhh…”

The fork slowly speared into the broccoli. It was hefted up under a nose, which took a few quick sniffs.

“For goodness’ sake!” Shiho yelled. “Just eat it already!”

“I don’t think I can.”

“Of course you can!” Shiho pointed at the fork’s contents. “Now put that in your mouth, chew, and swallow, or you won’t get any dessert!”

“But it’s disgusting!”

“For crying out loud, Ann!” Shiho pointed towards the other side of the table where Jean sat, his plate fully clean. “Your four-year-old son eats his vegetables! Why can’t you!?”

“I eat vegetables” Ann said. “I eat salad.”

“That doesn’t count! You drown it in so much dressing it completely offsets the nutritional value!”

“I still get the vitamins, don’t I!?”

“Your metabolism’s going to fail one of these days, Ann! You need to get into actual healthy habits or you’re going to balloon up like a-“

Shiho paused when she felt a tug on her sleeve. She looked down to see Jean grabbing her arm. Immediately, her voice softened up and she put on a smile.

“What is it, honey?”

“Can I have some more water please?” Jean held up his empty glass.

“Of course.” Shiho took the glass and got up, heading for the kitchen. She stopped just before leaving the room and turned to Jean. “Say, I think Mom and I are gonna be a while. Do you want to go watch TV?”

“But I’m not s’posed to leave the table ’til we’re all finished.”

“It’s fine this time. I’ll bring your dessert with your water, ok?” Shiho’s smile widened. “We have cake tonight!”

“No thanks.” Jean hopped out of his chair. “I’m full.”

Jean pushed in his chair and left the dining room. Ann stared at him in amazement as he disappeared around the doorframe.

“No room for cake…” Ann shook her head. “Where did I go wrong?”

“It’s a good thing. He’ll be healthier in the long run.” Shiho filled the water glass in the kitchen. “When you got pregnant, my biggest fear was that our child would pick up on your worst habits.”

“Quit acting so high and mighty, little miss cheat day!” Ann yelled. “Every Saturday you eat as many sweets as I do in a week!”

“That’s not physically possible.” Shiho walked back into the dining room, smirking. “I don’t think a giant dinosaur could eat half as many sweets as you do in a week.”

“Whatever…” Ann stared as Shiho left the room to give Jean his water, idly pushing the broccoli around on her plate with her fork. She considered taking advantage of Shiho’s absence to try and throw out the broccoli, but there was no way Shiho would believe she had eaten it all that quickly, and then she’d have to hear about it for the rest of the night. Ann looked over to the empty plate where Jean had been sitting. Sure, it was smaller than her own plate, but she couldn’t believe he had actually eaten vegetables without complaint. When Ann was four, she put up such a fuss about eating her vegetables. Hell, she still did it now as an adult.

Really, Jean was just not what Ann expected when she got pregnant. And not just because of his skin color. He was very quiet. He didn’t tend to engage with others unless he was engaged first, and she couldn’t tell if it was shyness or something else. He was definitely smart. He seemed to understand the things adults told him just fine, had excellent manners, and rarely caused any trouble, so it’s not like Ann was pulling her hair out over his behavior or anything, but there was still something off about him. When Ann was little, she was so excitable, so sociable and full of joy. And it’s not like she expected her kid to be a little copy of her, and he didn’t seem like he was sad or anything, but she’d never met a child as docile as her own flesh-and-blood son, and she couldn’t help but wonder if she was doing something wrong.

“Alright…” Shiho came back into the dining room. “Jean’s all settled in front of the TV. I think he was getting uneasy with our argument. I’m sorry for snapping at you in front of him, but I’m just worried about-“

“Hey, Shiho…”

“Yes?” Shiho was about to have her anger stoked again by being interrupted when she was talking about something so important, but the upset look on Ann’s face calmed the flames of rage. “What is it?”

“What do you think Jean’s gonna be when he grows up?” 

“What brought this on?”

“I don’t know, it’s just…” Ann scratched her head. “Shouldn’t he start to show interest in stuff now?”

“He’s still in preschool, Ann.” Shiho sat back down. “He doesn’t have to pick a career path just yet.”

“Of course not! But he’s also pretty mature for his age, you know?” Ann puffed up her chest, a proud smile on her face. “Jean’s 4 is like, any other kid’s 6 or 7.”

“Uh-huh…” Shiho shook her head. “And did you know what you wanted to be when you were 7?”

“Yeah! A supervillain!”

“Well, I think that dream may be a little unrealistic for our son.”

“Hey, it happened to me.” Ann held up three fingers with a big grin on her face. “Three episodes of Featherman! Dreams DO come true!”

“Well, I wouldn’t worry about it.” Shiho put her hand on Ann’s shoulder. “He’s still little. He’s got plenty of time to figure out what he wants to do with his life.”

“I know.” Ann started sulking. “It’s just that Ren and Makoto’s girls are starting to figure out what they wanna do and I don’t want to see Jean fall behind.”

“They’re two years older than him.” Shiho shook her head and started clearing the table, clearly seeing Ann wasn’t going to eat the rest of her dinner. “I mean, yes, Ryoko-Chan wants to be a police officer like her mother, but she’s always idolized Makoto, so that’s hardly a surprise. I wouldn’t start worrying about Jean yet.”

“I know it’s silly” Ann said. “I just wish Jean would show a real passion for something.”

“Passion doesn’t mean much at their age.” Shiho snickered. “From what Ren’s told me, Hanami-Chan’s passion changes every week. Last week she wanted to be a pilot, and this week she’s bugging her parents to buy her a trombone.”

“What about Ryuji’s kids?” Ann asked. “They seem to have things figured out.”

“Yoshio-Kun didn’t get into baseball until after he started elementary school, and there’s no guarantee he’ll stay interested in it forever.”

“What about Natsumi-Chan? She seems pretty sure about what she wants, and she’s Jean’s age.”

“What, the world’s strongest karate fighter?” Shiho shook her head. “I think that’s just an excuse to play-fight with her dad. And do you want Jean to be constantly sneak-attacking you?”

“Of course not!” Ann sighed. “But he’s just so passive all the time. Just once I’d like to see him take an interest in something.”

“Uh-huh…” Shiho looked at her watch and stood up. “Come with me.”

“Where?” Ann asked.

“Just come on.” Shiho loomed over Ann and lowered her voice. “And be quiet.”

The couple tip-toed their way out of the dining room, down the hall and to the living room. They peeked around the wall and saw Jean watching an educational cartoon about Japanese history, completely still on the couch.

“Take a look” Shiho whispered.

“At what?” Ann whispered back. “He’s just watching TV.”

“Wait for it…”

The show went to a commercial break. A few commercials went by and nothing seemed to change. First for some children’s movie, then for a robot toy, then for a car dealership, all of which were met with the same glazed-over expression on his face. Ann began to turn away, but felt Shiho grip her arm. Ann turned back and saw a credit card commercial that she was in come on, and then Shiho pointed to Jean. The boy was leaning forward, a tiny smile having formed on his face, his eyes full of light.

“I think he likes that commercial more than any TV show” Shiho said. “Every time it comes on TV, he always looks at the screen like that. It’s the same look he has when I tell him a bedtime story, or when Haru shows him how she bakes something.”

The commercial ended, and Jean leaned back on the couch, his smile dying down.

“Jean isn’t very expressive, but if you pay attention, you can kind of tell what he’s thinking. He takes interest in the people around him. I don’t think he says a lot because he likes to listen to others. There nothing wrong with him, that’s just how Jean likes to engage with the world.”

Shiho looked at Ann to see if she was processing any of this, only to find tears running down her partner’s face, her hands covering her mouth.  Ann sniffled and moved her hands to wipe her eyes, revealing a big smile. Ann walked into the room and sat down on the couch, picking up Jean and putting him in her lap.

“Hi, sweetie.”

“Hi, Mom.” Jean looked up at Ann, smiling, but when he saw the tear tracks on her face he started to frown. “Are you sad about something?”

“No, this is just what happens when I eat broccoli.”

“Are you allergic!?” Jean’s eyes widened. “You should tell Mama! Maybe then she’d stop bein’ mad at you for not eatin’ it!”

“No, I’m not allergic, it’s just really icky.” Ann rubbed Jean’s head and looked at the TV screen. “So, what are we watching?”

“It’s a show ‘bout the Sengoku Era.” Jean looked back to the TV screen.

“Really?” Ann stared at the boy in her lap in amazement. “Isn’t all of that a little hard to follow?”

“Nah.” Jean shook his head. “Old stories are neat.”

“They sure are.”

Ann wrapped her arms around Jean, holding him in a half-hug as they watched the show. The two stayed like that until the show ended, only moving when it was time for Jean to go to bed.

[Art by Hureno](http://hurenodoodles.tumblr.com)

**Author's Note:**

> Well, it's a bit shorter than usual, but I finally got an Ann/Shiho fic done. Maybe I'll come up with some more stuff for them in the future.
> 
> And yes I did introduce another character in there real quick-like don't worry you'll get to meet her soon her story's already half-written in my head and we've already got artwork of her.


End file.
